The Global Hunger Index (GHI) scores countries on a scale of 0 (no hunger) to 100 (hunger). The scores are calculated through a combination of 3 equally weighted indicators — undernourishment, child underweight, and child mortality. These are all important factors to accurately measure the multi-dimensional nature of hunger. The countries’ scores are reflected on the color scale and categorized according to severity - low (5 and below), moderate (5.0-9.9), serious (10-19.9), alarming (20-29.9) and extremely alarming (30 and above).

Countries lacking data on undernourishment affected the GHI's ability to calculate their score and are represented by the “no data” category. Countries where hunger is very low are labeled as “industrialized nations” and are excluded from the GHI's ranking.